Materia limit?

I just learned you can't increase the value of an attribute from an item with materia beyond a certain limit. Example - helmet gives +4 strength, I add a +1 strength materia but after melding the bonus is a red +0. The materia is wasted.

So, my question is as follows:
How can I learn what is the attribute limit for each gear piece?

I believe you cannot know the stat limit at first glance, but you CAN know when a materia will have no effect. The red stat number and a big yellow message saying something like "The level of the item is too low..." before melding appears.

Reading a bit would not hurt.

Check out the image in this post, and the rest of the thread as well. See the yellow text that warns you the materia won't get its full benefit when you're trying to meld it? And the red number that shows how much it will increase that stat (zero, in this case)? Keep an eye out for that.

As for the limits, I think testing has shown that the limit for most gear is the amount of the stat that would be present on the HQ version of the gear. E.G., a helm with +4 STR, whose HQ version has +5 STR, can only have 1 more STR added through materia. I also think there are only caps on primary stats. But AFAIK, that's the only thing approaching a formula that's been discovered, and there's no in-game indication of the cap without starting the materia melding process (though you can cancel when you see the reduced benefit).

Damn, now I feel dumb. ><
Didn't see it before for some reason.

Thanks guys! ^^

Wow i didn't know this either. I don't think I have run into the situation before, as I haven't done much melding yet. Its great to know in advance!